Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-07-09
What may be Accomplished by Energy
and Perseverance.

own observation, where success trod
closely on the heel of perseverance
and industry:
A man can make a living, and also
make money, in hundreds of differ
ent ways in this country, and it is a
mighty good thing that this is so,
else over-production would be the
rule, not the exception. I know a
man who is getting rich out of baby
swings. It's a simple, cheap thing
to make, and he started in a simple
and cheap way to make them, his
entire outfit of tools comprising two
saws, two saw benches, adraw shave,
two hand planes, a brace and some
bits, a rough work bench. He didn't
stand around with hands in his pock-
cts waiting for sombody with capital
to come along and boost him. Not
much. He thought these swings
would sell, so he made one and ped
died round until he found a purchas-
er. Then he made another and sold
that, and thus he kept on until finally
people began to think his swings
were a good thing to have in the
family, and they began to inquire
for them. He started eight years
ago, and alone did all the work of
making and selling them. Things
with him are very different today.
He has a shop two stories in height,
and machinery for saving, planning,
boring, mortising, turning, and sand
papering the material entering into
the construction of these swings. In
that shop forty men find constant
employment, and, as | said before,
the owner is getting rich out Of it.
Counting the wives and children of
the workmen in that shop, there is a
population of nearly or quite n
hundred and fifty making a living
out of one mans idea that a baby
swing would sell. A baby swing is
not a very big thing, but it is in this
case big enough to keep quite a little
village busy and comfortable.
a step ladder is a mighty handy
thing TO have around the house.
Five years ago three men, by the
closest kind of scraping, twisting and
borrowing, managed to get together
five hundred dollars. They bought
some lnmber, rugged up a circular, or
buzz, rip saw, and started in to make
step ladders. For two years it was a
struggle of the hardest kind sales
had to be made by personal canvass,
prices obtained permitted no margin
of profit, and the outlook was of such
a d~iscouraging nature that their
friends and neighbOrs pitied them at
first, then prOphesied dead failure, and
finally laughed at their folly in stick
ing by a losing game. There came a
change, however. A promi n ent
house-furnishing goods firm one day
wrote them for prices on fivethOusand
ladders. The size Of this possible
order very nearly took them off their
feet. They had sense enough, how
ever, to understand that this big
house would not give them the order
unless prices were made away down,
so they sat down and figured the
thing over, and having decided that
matter, awaited the result, which
turned in their favor and they got
the order. Then they went to work
each one took his coat off and pitched
in; they worked sixteen hours a day
until that order was filled, and it was
filled on time, and each ladder was
honestly made. The only expense
they realized was for lumber, screws
and paint. They had done all the
work themselves. This was the
turning point in their business career
Within a mouth from the delivery O.
these five thousand ladders they haC
contracted with the same house for {
monthly supply Of two thousand five
hundred. They We're on their fee
now, and began to push things
They are turning out today, will
fifteen men, ten thousand step ladders
each month, and have been doing
this for more than a year. \ stcl
ladder is a little thing, but these mel
are making money out Of them.
About fifteen years ago, in one o
the big planning mills in Chicago,
strip of board catching, in some unac
cOuntable manner, on a buzz saw, wa
hurled with violence against the lie!
Of one of the workmen, breaking i
and incapacitating the mar for per
forming the labor required of him il
the mill, and he was compelled t,
seek other means of livelihood. I
,,nn oF G,,o ,,nnhon;nol n+tn;,,,,,+